Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 12):  Based on corporate announcements and news flow today, companies that may be in focus on Wednesday (Nov 13) may include the following: Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB), IHH Healthcare Bhd, Sime Darby Bhd, London Biscuits Bhd, UEM Sunrise Bhd, MUI Properties Bhd, Prestariang Bhd, Nestle (M) Bhd and Damansara Realty Bhd.

Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) has failed in its final bid to appeal a court decision that found the company liable for causing flash floods in Bertam Valley in the Cameron Highlands six years ago.

The utility giant is therefore required to pay damages to the 100 residents who had filed a negligence suit over the loss of four lives and the destruction of property due to the floods. The amount will be assessed by the court later.

On May 25 last year, the High Court found TNB to be negligent in releasing water from the dam three times on the night of Oct 23, 2013, resulting in the disaster. The Court of Appeal later upheld the decision.

IHH Healthcare Bhd's 31.1%-owned associate Fortis Healthcare Ltd has made requisite interventions before India's Supreme Court as soon as the court passed the stay order on IHH's open offer to buy an additional 26% stake in Fortis, Indian news portal Mint reported.

“Fortis has made extensive arguments before the Supreme Court of India, highlighting the impact of the stay order on the public shareholders of the company, as well as on Fortis itself," Mint quoted Fortis as saying in a statement.

Fortis said it is hopeful of a positive outcome on or before this Sunday.  

Fortis' statement was in response to Fortis' minority shareholders' demand that Fortis and IHH make efforts to vacate the Supreme Court stay order.

Sime Darby Bhd is looking at trimming its non-core assets, even though it is not in a hurry to do so, as part of its five-year plan to create value for the group two years after its demerger exercise.

Its group chief executive officer Datuk Jeffri Salim Davidson said the group had seen good progress in its non-core asset rationalisation plan, with some divestment exercises completed in the financial year ended June 30, 2019.

These include the disposal of Weifang Sime Darby Water Management Co Ltd and Sime Darby Global Service Centre, as well as exiting Fiat and Alfa Romeo in Australia.

Currently, its non-core assets include a 12% stake in Eastern & Oriental, 3,561.23 hectares of land in the Malaysia Vision Valley in Negeri Sembilan, and a 30% stake in Tesco Malaysia.

Practice Note 17 (PN17) company London Biscuits Bhd has again defaulted — this time on principal payments to RHB Bank that amounted to RM22.52 million.

The confectionery manufacturer said the default, dated Oct 2, was due to “cash flow constraint”.

“The company is currently assessing the significant impact of the default in payment on the business, financial and operations of the remaining business of the group,” it added.  

UEM Sunrise Bhd is disposing of a property in Melbourne for A$107.09 million (RM304.13 million) to Acme Co. No 4 Pty Ltd.

The disposal is expected to be completed by the end of the year and give rise to an estimated net gain on disposal of RM54.32 million (A$19.12 million). 

MUI Properties Bhd said its wholly-owned investment firm Cesuco Trading Ltd will be converting an A$1.5 million secured convertible note in an Australian gold exploration company into ordinary shares.  

This will result in Cesuco holding 40.73% of the enlarged share capital of Nex Metals Explorations Ltd, a Perth-based company that is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. 

Prestariang Bhd's independent auditor Crowe Malaysia PLT has highlighted material uncertainty on the IT software distributor's ability to continue as a going concern, after taking into account Prestariang's negative operating cash flow and loss after taxation for the financial period ended June 30, 2019.   

Nestle (M) Bhd's net profit for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2019 (3QFY19) rose 8.2% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM148.99 million from RM137.69 million, on the back of focus on driving sustainable efficiencies and savings.

It revenue for the quarter dipped 2.2% to RM1.4 billion, from RM1.43 billion.

It has declared an interim dividend of 70 sen per share, amounting to RM164.15 million, payable on Dec 19.

For the nine months ended Sept 30, its net profit rose 1.1% to RM541.1 million, from RM535.06 million in the year-ago period, on the back of a marginal 0.4% increase in revenue to RM4.19 billion versus RM4.17 billion.

Damansara Realty Bhd's net profit for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2019 more than doubled to RM3.85 million from RM1.87 million a year earlier, mainly due to the contribution from the property and land development segment driven by its joint venture development in Central Park, Johor Bahru, with Country Garden Management Sdn Bhd.

The developer said revenue for the quarter fell 14% year-on-year to RM65.89 million from RM76.34 million.

For the nine months ended Sept 30 (9MFY19), net profit surged to RM9.31 million from RM3.28 million in the year-ago period. Revenue, however, declined to RM206.11 million from RM221.81 million in the previous year.

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